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HEROD: MATdHEM: ECLIPSE What the Constant Reference to. the Three Old Heroes: in Pedigrees Means to Modern Breeding. BY EXILE. It has recently been brought to my notice that . not a few of those engaged in the pursuit of bloodstock breeding do not understand my constant refer- ence to Herod, Matchem and Eclipse. For the benefit of those who are interested in the breeding and development of the thoroughbred horse I may say that it must first be understood that all thoroughbred horses trace, back in every line of their pedigrees to one or other of these three horses, and that wiien reference is made to a horse as Eclipse it is so made because of the fact that the horse .referred to traces back in the male line to Eclipse; that wlien writing of Herod, reference is made to one which runs back, in the male line to him, for .instance. Hanover by: way of Hindoo. Virgil, Vandal, Glnncoe. Sultan, Selim, Buzzard, Woodpecker to Herod, and when writing of a Matchem, s:iy for instance Omar Khayyam, it is done because Omars ancestry in the direct male line is Marco, Bar- caldine,. Solon, West Australian, Melbourne, Hum- phrey Clinker, Comus, Trumpator, Conductor to Matchem. Granted then that all thoroughbred horses do .tract back, in every line of their pedigrees to th""?.! three horses, what is to be learned from this? Along with otliers -who have made an exhaustive study of the breeding of bloodstock, both pwst and pidsent, I am forced to the conclusion .that the best results in racing and breeding are to be had by a Mending of these three strains of blood, for it is in sirch manner that the best, in greater proportion, have been and are bred. Here are the origins of the great three: Eclipse, chestnut, foaled in England 1764. bred ;by Mr. Wildmari; by Marske, a descendant of Dar-ley Arabian, produce of Spllleta by Rcgulus and a member of the Bruce Lowe sire family No. 12. Herod, bay, foaled in England 1758, bred by the Duke of Cumberland; by Tartar, a descendant of the Byerly Turk, produce of Cypron by Blaze and a member of family No. 26. Matchem, bay, foaled in England 1843, bred by Mr. Fenwick; by Cade, son of Godolphin Arabian produce of a daughter of Partner and a member of the Tiayton Barb, Bruce Lowe family No. 4, A study of tlie breeding and likenesses of the best of the bygone horses is, I think, conclusive proof of that subtle something, the dominant male influence. Only last winter, when visiting the Wikiup Ranch of that estimable gentleman of quick thought. and perception Mr. Itosseter -together we were looking over some pictures of. Eclipse, the Godolphin Arabian and some horses of Herod descent. There was the bald-face, white-heeled chestnut, Eclipse, with his well set on tail, so strong, solid and courageous as is his lineal descendant Friar Bock and, also, there was the lop-eared, pig-faced and,, as Mr. Rosseter put it, "slothful, droop-tailed, slouchy ancestor of all the Matchem tribe," the Godolphin Arabian, and also the rather effeminate, lighter stamp, fine, more marelike horses of Herod descent. Horses of the. Eclipse line, as was to be expected, are and have been for some time past the strongest and best of the sires; the Herods are at their best as brood mare sires, and the coarsa, phlegmatic Matchems the leaven. St. Simon, of Eclipse descent but well supplied with strains of Herod blood, scored, best off mares which exhibited a strain of Matchem close to the surface, and in this blood St. Simon himself was deficient. The fortunes of the house of Matchem were at a lpw ebb when Melbourne appeared on the scene. The success of this blacksmiths horse as a sire of race horses was remarkable, and even more so the success of his daughters as brood mares, "as was that of the success of his son, Young Melbourne, in this particular, for Young Melbourne was the maker as it were of the fortunes of the Maid of Masham family. What of the Herods?1 The Herod horse Glehcoe sired Pocahontas,, dam of Stockwell, Rataplan and: King. Tom, before he left England and on his. arrival in this country established for himself a reputation as a brood mare sire which has never been equaled, and members of the Glencoc line such as Hindoo, Hanover, Hamburg, Burgomaster, Yankee and others of this tribe, stand in a class by themselves today as brood mare sires. Female members, too, of the French, Herod line, of Le Saricy arc greatly sought for on account of their excellence as brood mares. So it goes, Herod blood is good brood mare blood and all of this is no theory of my own, but as turf history is my guide, it is the manner in whicli the best of theni have been bred. ! j i ; ! j j j . 1 1 ; 1 J
